


like a dream / in the night

by viotaq (taq)



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Family, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:08:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 649
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21852712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taq/pseuds/viotaq
Summary: It isn’t even really a dream, more a memory that floats to the surface, bursts like a bubble, stings.The stone is cold beneath her fingers, smooth and worn from years of the wind, a small lump digs into her side through her bag - one of Olaf’s coals, probably, maybe the carrot. His hand clutched tightly in hers, digging imprints into her skin, she curls in on herself and is just, empty.Three years.They'd only had three years.Post Frozen II, Canon-compliant, Family
Relationships: Anna & Elsa (Disney)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 67





	like a dream / in the night

_like a dream / in the night_

Elsa, Anna

* * *

It isn’t even really a dream, more a memory that floats to the surface, bursts like a bubble, stings.

_The stone is cold beneath her fingers, smooth and worn from years of the wind, a small lump digs into her side through her bag - one of Olaf’s coals, probably, maybe the carrot. His hand clutched tightly in hers, digging imprints into her skin, she curls in on herself and is just, empty._

_Three years._

_She’d only had three years with Elsa and now Elsa is gone to a place she cannot find, across the dark sea in the magical river and Anna, powerless, normal human being Anna who she left behind cannot follow._

She shifts, feels something warm beneath her hands, wakes with a sob. 

The window is open, the first chill of winter drifts through the room and Anna is up and running down the halls barefoot.

She knows where to go.

It’ll be alright. She’ll knock and she’ll wake Elsa up and Elsa will be annoyed but it’ll be alright.

Everything is going to be alright.

* * *

She knocks.

Elsa is a light sleeper.

She knocks again.

Elsa is a light sleeper, isn’t she?

She raps their pattern on the door.

Not a light. Not a sound. No-

Anna bangs on the door, turns the handle and the door swings silently, smoothly open. It takes a while for her eyes to get used to the dark but the sheer stillness of the air is what strikes her first. Elsa has never really used a fire but the window would at least be open a crack and the sheets a little messy and-

And the bedspread is pristine, the windows sealed tightly shut.

A cold grips Anna’s heart.

* * *

Her hands tighten over the reins.

A torch burns low in the stables, casts flickering lights over the hay and Anna stands, hands on the reins, bag packed for light travel.

The crisp night air licks her face, laughs gently at her.

Her fingers tremble, then they loosen.

She is Queen Anna of Arendelle. She cannot go flying out of the kingdom in the night on the back of a single whim. Elsa is strong. Elsa is careful. Elsa is smart. Elsa will be alright. Elsa is alright.

She would know if something had happened to Elsa, right?

She would.

They’re sisters, after all.

* * *

_She hadn’t noticed until Olaf started flurrying._

_She’d somehow always thought that they had some sort of a special bond, silly as that idea might sound, that she would know if something had happened to Elsa but Olaf is gone and Elsa is dead and she hadn’t noticed._

_She hadn’t noticed._

* * *

Nokk’s hooves are silent on the cobblestones but Elsa doesn’t need to announce herself for the main door to be flung wide open and for her to find herself with an armful of Anna even before she’s dismounted.

“It’s only been two weeks since our last family games night,” she smiles.

A sniff greets her and her heart freezes.

“Anna?”

“Mmmpfhg,” Anna says into her shoulder, sniffs again then straightens up, gently pats Elsa’s shoulders, elbows, takes her wrists in her hands, measures her, presses fingers to skin as if she were making sure that Elsa really is here.

There is a wonder in Anna’s gaze, a sorrow that lines her eyes that Elsa wishes, just wishes she could reach out a hand and erase.

“You were dead,” Anna whispers next, “and I didn’t know. And you weren’t there. And I didn’t know if-”

Elsa tugs her gently into her arms, squishes Anna’s cheek in close, cradles her head like she used to when they were little, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Anna sniffles but she turns, glares fiercely up, “Don’t you dare do that again. Don’t you dare leave me behind.”

Elsa smiles.

Anna smacks her.

Elsa laughs.


End file.
